Stanbrook Abbey completes £4.2m renovation

Stanbrook Abbey hotel in Worcester has relocated its restaurant and added 15 bedrooms as part of a £4.2m renovation.

The ongoing investment programme by owner/operator Hand Picked Hotels has seen the Grade II-listed, four-AA-star property go from 55 to 70 bedrooms.

Seven new bedrooms have been created in the old school house, a previously unused space which was once part of the nuns' living quarters.

The former Sister Charlotte's restaurant on the second floor has been closed to make way for a further eight bedrooms, while a new restaurant, the Refectory Dining Room & Terrace, has opened on the ground floor in the original nuns' cafeteria, a space previously used as the Thompson Hall function room.

Head chef David Humphreys has designed a menu offering modern, seasonal British cuisine influenced by using locally sourced produce wherever possible.

New feature rooms Pugin and Ashlin are named after the architects involved in the design of the original abbey at the turn of the 16th century. Eight new bedrooms in the old school house overlook the willow lake at the heart of the 26-acre estate. The renovation project also included the overhaul of one of the hotel's largest function spaces, St Anne's Hall.

Julia Hands, founder, chief executive and chairman of Hand Picked Hotels, said: "Stanbrook Abbey is a very special building with so much history and so many wonderful features, so it was important for us to spend the time planning before we rushed in. Relocating the restaurant to the ground floor and offering a new dining concept for the local community with David's take on good, honest yet elegant British food was a top priority, and I am thrilled with the results."

Founded in 2001 by former lawyer Hands, Hand Picked Hotels has 19 hotels across the UK and Channel Islands. The group acquired Stanbrook Abbey from Clarenco in 2017.

Hand Picked Hotels reports falling losses >>

HandPicked Hotels acquires Stanbrook Abbey from Clarenco >>